France is on track to get 45 nuclear reactors back on line by January, up from 41 at present, which should help the country avoid power cuts this winter, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.

"We are on the right track regarding avoiding electricity cuts," Le Maire told C News TV.

France's RTE grid operator cut its power exports to Britain by around half for an hour on Monday morning, and imported more from Belgium and Italy as it faced tight power supplies amid a spell of freezing weather. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Heavens)